Netflix has officially cut ties with the remaining Defenders on their streaming service. After previously saying goodbye to Daredevil, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage, only The Punisher and Jessica Jones remained as the surviving series in the “Defenders-verse.” Today, the axing of The Punisher and Jessica Jones officially brings an end to upcoming shows for Netflix set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Jessica Jones ran for two seasons, and has a third season in the works. Netflix will air the show’s third season, but won’t be producing any more new episodes after. As for The Punisher, which recently premiered its second season, no new episodes will be produced, ending the show’s run with the Season 2 finale. Given the choices to cancel the other Marvel shows on the service, this news is not surprising at all, though still certainly a bummer for fans of either series.
It’s possible that some of these shows may wind up with a new home on another streaming service. Some are speculating that we could see a revival for Daredevil and other shows on Disney’s upcoming streaming service, while rumors of Hulu picking them up are also making the rounds. The problem is, with so many big name companies involved, cutting through all of the red tape can really complicate these things, and there’s certainly no guarantee we’ll end up seeing new episodes of any of these programs.
For this writer, seeing The Punisher come to an end particularly stings. With all due respect to the previous actors, Jon Bernthal has given us by far the best on-screen interpretation of the character. It would have been amazing to see the series continue given all of its potential, but the silver lining here is that the ending of Season 2 was just so satisfying, and there are worse ways this version of the character’s story could have ended.
The third and final season of Jessica Jones will premiere on Netflix in 2019.
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